Vijay Shekhar Sharma appointed chairman of IAMAI payments banks group

Vodafone India business head (M-Pesa) Suresh Sethi, will be the vice-chairman of the group.Neha Alawadhi | ET Bureau | April 14, 2016, 11:28 IST

Industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India has appointed Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma chairman of its the newly formed payments banks group.

Vodafone India business head (M-Pesa) Suresh Sethi, will be the vice-chairman of the group.

"Payments Banks is an innovative model of bringing unbanked population into the formal banking fold. Paytm along with other license holders, would make financial services accessible for every Indian through this innovative route," said Sharma in a statement.

IAMAI, which includes global companies such as Google, Facebook and LinkedIn as members, also counts six out of the ten payments banks’ primary licensees as members.

“The other four primary licensees have in principal agreed to join when they are in operation," said Dr. Subho Ray, President, IAMAI.

The Reserve Bank of India had granted payment licences in August last year, to companies including Paytm, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.

The business potential from serving millions of unbanked Indians to further the financial inclusion initiative of the government and the Reserve Bank had attracted most of the top business houses.